Crowd-pleaser
An opera with broad audience appeal, memorable music, and strong immediate theatrical impact.
An editorial grouping — a way in, not an objective classification.
49 operas
- Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Le nozze di Figaro (1786) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Don Giovanni (1787) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti (1790) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- The Magic Flute (1791) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Fidelio (1805) — Ludwig van Beethoven
- Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816) — Gioachino Rossini
- Guillaume Tell (1829) — Gioachino Rossini
- La sonnambula (1831) — Vincenzo Bellini
- Norma (1831) — Vincenzo Bellini
- L'elisir d'amore (1832) — Gaetano Donizetti
- Lucia di Lammermoor (1835) — Gaetano Donizetti
- Der fliegende Holländer (1843) — Richard Wagner
- Tannhäuser (1845) — Richard Wagner
- Macbeth (1847) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Lohengrin (1848) — Richard Wagner
- Rigoletto (1851) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Il trovatore (1853) — Giuseppe Verdi
- La traviata (1853) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Un ballo in maschera (1859) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Faust (1859) — Charles Gounod
- Tristan und Isolde (1859) — Richard Wagner
- La forza del destino (1862) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Roméo et Juliette (1867) — Charles Gounod
- Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1867) — Richard Wagner
- Das Rheingold (1869) — Richard Wagner
- Die Walküre (1870) — Richard Wagner
- Siegfried (1871) — Richard Wagner
- Aida (1871) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Götterdämmerung (1874) — Richard Wagner
- Carmen (1875) — Georges Bizet
- La Gioconda (1876) — Amilcare Ponchielli
- Samson et Dalila (1877) — Camille Saint-Saëns
- Eugene Onegin (1879) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Otello (1887) — Giuseppe Verdi
- Cavalleria rusticana (1890) — Pietro Mascagni
- The Queen of Spades (1890) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Pagliacci (1892) — Ruggero Leoncavallo
- Iolanta (1892) — Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Manon Lescaut (1893) — Giacomo Puccini
- Falstaff (1893) — Giuseppe Verdi
- La bohème (1896) — Giacomo Puccini
- Tosca (1900) — Giacomo Puccini
- Rusalka (1901) — Antonín Dvořák
- Madama Butterfly (1904) — Giacomo Puccini
- La fanciulla del West (1910) — Giacomo Puccini
- Die Csárdásfürstin (1915) — Emmerich Kálmán
- Il trittico (Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi) (1918) — Giacomo Puccini
- Turandot (1926) — Giacomo Puccini